Pronunciation
Spanish: KS3, topic 1.1.2
Pronunciation
It is important to understand the common sounds found in Spanish.
Vowel sounds
- Vowel sounds make sure we are understood correctly in Spanish.
- Unlike English, all Spanish vowel sounds are short.
- Join vowels with consonants to create short words, and practice saying them out loud. For example:
- MA
- ME
- MI
- MO
- MU
Differences in pronunciation from English
- ‘J’ sounds like ‘h’ or 'hey' but from the throat.
- ‘ll’ sounds like the ‘y’ sound in English.
- ‘Z’ sounds like ‘th’ in thanks.
- ‘rr’ means you have to roll the 'r'! Put the tongue on the roof of your mouth to try.
- In Spanish we also roll the ‘r’ at the beginning of a word, ie. Roberto (Rrroberto).
Pronunciation rules
- The ‘ñ’ accent sounds like a ‘ny’, eg. España sounds like Espanya.
- The letter 'H' is always silent at the beginning of a word, e.g. hotel = 'otel'.
- 'll', 'cc', 'rr', 'nn' and 'ee' are the only letters that can be doubled.
- You can remember this with CaRoLiNa - the only consonants that can be doubled are in this word!
- 'Ph' does not exist in Spanish - it is replaced with 'f', e.g. elefante, telefono, foto.
4 ways to pronounce the letter 'C'
- When followed by an 'O' or 'A' it is hard like a 'K', e.g. Córdoba, Cádiz.
- When followed by 'U' it is pronounced like 'Qu' in queen, e.g. la cuenta.
- When followed by ‘I’ and ‘e’ it is pronounced as a ‘th’, e.g. situación is pronounced ‘sit-u-a-thion’.
- When it is doubled, 'cc', it is a hard sound, e.g. di-rec-ción (Dee-reck-thion).
Use of the accent in Spanish
- The ´ accent in Spanish is used to stress a vowel in Spanish.
- It is important to pronounce the accent correctly, otherwise the word can take on a different meaning.
- Eg. 'esta', means a totally different thing to 'está'.
- 'Esta' means 'this' (when talking about a feminine noun), and 'está' means 'he/she/it is'.
- The only way to tell the difference in meaning is through the pronunciation of the accent.
Test yourself on Pronunciation
Which letter cannot be doubled in Spanish?
What does the 'ñ' sound like?